Donald Trump is the whirling dervish of numerous criminal investigations, spinning like a top and wild in his movements.
As these cases proliferate and move closer and closer to formal charges against him, Trump becomes more and more unhinged, e.g., FBI plants of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago; presidential declassification is valid when a president “thinks” of doing so.
All of this is played out in the media that knows that both the pro and anti Trumpies love reports of his comments and mental pratfalls. This highly disturbed individual gets lots of space in every news cycle.
This is bad for him. And it’s bad for the nation.
Bad for him because he has no representation to speak of and faces ruin when crimes are charged and proven. And it’s bad for the nation because his endgame is violence.
Frankly, it is in the public interest to conclude the many criminal charges against Trump in an organized fashion.
The idea of a “global settlement” is well known in cases where potential and actual defendants, usually corporations, negotiate with prosecutors in different districts to enter into plea agreements that cover every crime charged.
The Department of Justice has issued formal rules for how these global settlements are to be authorized and negotiated. For example, no plea agreement can relieve a defendant of civil liability in civil cases extant during the negotiation. That has to be done separately.
As things stand now, the possibility of Trump accepting a global settlement is zero. This is because he believes that he is the subject of a “witch hunt” and no one representing him can convince him to the contrary.
What should happen is a meeting between Trump and the senior leadership of several top law firms perhaps to include Jones Day. The lawyers would explain what is at stake and would offer to represent Trump in any negotiation. The lawyers would do so because threats of violence and actual violence leading to the end of our democracy through stolen elections abate only when Trump’s criminal culpability is resolved. Thus, the public interest demands their participation as a civic duty.
Would this work? The only thing that is a certainty is Trump’s acceptance of the lawyer meeting because he would view it as the lawyers knocking their heads at his feet.
If he agreed to a global settlement negotiation, it would be the first time since this ugly post-presidency when competence, ability, expertise and judgment would be at his disposal.
Would Trump’s plea to various charges (including nolo contendere which is juridically a guilty plea) and the dismissal of the rest result in a jail term? No.
But the boon to the body politic of getting rid of hourly explosions from his supporters and detractors is worth it.
As to other conditions of any jail-free global settlement, use your imagination.